Carbon fibers have high stiffness, high tensile strength, low weight, high chemical resistance, high temperature tolerance, and low thermal expansion, properties which makes them valuable in industries including aerospace, civil engineering, military, motorsports, and competition sports. Applications include reinforcement of composition materials such as reinforcement of polymers, filtration, metal matrix composites, carbon fiber-reinforced carbon, electrodes, and anti-static components. An example includes carbon fiber reinforced polymer resins used to make wind turbine blades.
Carbon fibers are generally made by heating raw fibers made from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) or pitch to high temperatures. However, these procedures are expensive and have associated environmental issues. Glass fibers are less expensive, but have higher densities and lower fatigue ratios, making them less effective than carbon fibers for a variety of applications.